1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to improved playback systems and in particular to an improved method for controlling playback of electronic works. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to controlling access to wirelessly broadcast licensed electronic works during playback, such that an electronic work sampled from another electronic device is only played back on the receiving device according to the digital rights management (DRM) rules of the sampled electronic work.
2. Description of the Related Art
Technological advancement and copyright law are often in conflict with one another. Technology advances to provide newer and better devices that enable display and audio output of copyrightable works in an electronic form. These electronic works include, but are not limited to, music, film, video, and books. The technological advances, for example, continue to expand the types of electronic devices that play music. Further, technological advances are providing new ways of encapsulating music and new ways of distributing music, often without consideration of the rights of copyright holders. In contrast, copyright law continues to increase the protection that copyright holders have over copyrighted works, however enforcement of such rights is often difficult and costly. Thus, there is a need for technological developments that enforce and implement copyright protection and provide incentives for listeners and viewers of copyrighted music and other electronic works to attain proper licensing.
In particular, one of the advances in devices that play electronic works is in portable electronic devices that play music from MPEG-1 Layer 3 (MP3) and other types of electronic compression file formats. MP3 files are typically small in memory size and thus are ideal for storage and play on portable electronic devices. Further, MP3 and other types of electronic formats of licensed works are often easily transferable from one device to another via a wire or wireless network.
Advances in devices that play electronic works may also allow music files may to be streamed from one portable device to another, creating a type of ad-hoc radio system. While transfer of music files and streaming audio from one player to another is advantageous for consumers of portable player devices, it is often not advantageous for copyright holders. Therefore, for copyright holders, it would be advantageous to provide a method, system, and program for controlling access to streamed electronic works during playback at another portable electronic device. In particular, it would be advantageous to assign digital rights management (DRM) rules to wirelessly streamed electronic works, such that access to the electronic work during playback is controlled by the DRM rules. However, for consumers, it would also be advantageous to allow both synchronous playback of broadcast electronic works and storage of broadcast electronic works for later playback according to DRM rules.